Why is the Mona Lisa Smiling?
Leonardo
Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa on a piece of
pine wood in the year 1506.
Never in the history of Art has one painting been so
admired. This is due largely to the enigmatic smile, which has caused much
speculation. He recorded in his notebooks the records of model sittings;
but nowhere can be found any records of the Mona Lisa model sitting. Why
is that? Who posed for him? Dr. Lillian Schwartz of Bell Labs suggests
that Leonardo painted himself, and was able to support her theory by analyzing
the facial features of Leonardo's face and that of the famous painting,
She digitized both the self-portrait of the artist and the Mona Lisa. She
flipped the self portrait and merged the two images together using a computer.
She noticed the features of the face aligned perfectly!
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